SWE-2012-137: Land Grabbing or Agricultural Investments: the Two Sides of the Coin

General

During the last decade land acquisitions by foreign investors in developing countries have accelerated tremendously. This project aims to enhance our understanding about the determinants and effects of this process. First, what determines where the acquisitions are taking place, their size when they do take place, and what characterizes the countries from which the investors come will be investigate using a macro-level approach. Second, how small-scale farmers in Zambia adapt to the introduction of larger farms will be investigated using a micro-level approach. Since Zambia during the last decade attracted large quantities of agricultural FDI of several different kinds it is very well suited as a case. Preliminary work indicates that large-scale land deals results are more likely in countries that are poor and closer to the sea or a navigable river.